Daily Calumet

The Daily Calumet was a Chicago newspaper that existed from 1881 until 1987. It was at one time billed as "America's Oldest Daily Community Newspaper."

The Daily Calumet was located at 9120 S. Baltimore Ave., Chicago, in the South Chicago neighborhood on the city's Southeast Side. Depending on the delineation of ward boundaries, it was either in the 7th or 10th Ward.

It served the communities within the city of South Chicago, South Shore, Irondale/Slag Valley, South Deering, the East Side and Hegewisch as well as the neighboring suburbs of Calumet City and Burnham.

Affectionately known as "The Cal" to generations of readers, the newspaper covered only topics of local interest and it was not until its finals years that it used any wire service copy. In the early 1980s, The Daily Calumet subscribed to the United Press International service to augment the copy produced by its staff of reporters, photographers and correspondents. Reporting areas, or "beats" were divided into four areas of responsibility on The Daily Calumet.

The police beat, known internally as the "cops and courts" beat, was basically focused on news from the 4th District of the Chicago Police Department. The detective bureau covered by The Daily Calumet was Area 2, which comprised districts 3 (Grand Crossing), 4 (South Chicago) 6 (Gresham) and 22 (Morgan Park).

The most sensational police coverage done by The Daily Calumet concerned the 1966 murders of six student nurses by drifter Richard Speck. The women were killed in an apartment rented by South Chicago Community Hospital on East 100th Street. Photographers and reporters from The Daily Calumet were the first media on the scene and were allowed unparalleled access to the homicide scene. The newspaper also extensively reported and photographed the October 30, 1972 collision between two Illinois Central commuter trains, which originated from the IC's 91st Street station in South Chicago. The wreck, which killed 45 people and injured 332, remains the worst commuter rail crash in Chicago's history, and carried a number of victims from the newspaper's coverage area.

The labor beat, which covered both the unions and the businesses of the Southeast Side, concentrated heavily on the steel and auto industries that made up the bulk of the local manufacturing employers. Among the largest of these were the South Works of United States Steel, Republic (later LTV) Steel, Wisconsin Steel, the Chicago Assembly Plant of Ford Motor Company and related suppliers to the above industries. The most significant coverage on the labor beat was during the 1937 Memorial Day Massacre when Chicago police shot down several striking workers at the Republic Steel plant on Avenue O.

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